Superconductor

The Son of the Return of the Revenge of the New York City Opera

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:19:00 +0000

We here at Superconductor would like to take this opportunity to welcome the New York City Opera back among the ranks of functioning and open opera companies.

Based at the David H. Koch Theater (formerly the New York State Theater) the City Opera is an important company and an important facet in the cultural life of opera-loving New Yorkers. The company, now under the direction of former Dallas Opera main man George Steel is playing a shortened four-opera season in their newly-renovated digs after spending the entire 2008-2009 season in an involuntary exile from Lincoln Center.

The new house (well really the old house) has had a total face-lift, with new seats, improved acoustics, the addition of elevators to the pit, and most importantly, the removal of the noxious amplification system that was put in under the direction of former Director Paul Kellogg. Kellogg had installed the system to cope with the notoriously opera-unfriendly acoustics of the State Theater, a theater that was, from its opening, always better suited to its other tenant, the New York City Ballet.

The fall City Opera schedule featuring a production of Don Giovanni and a revival of Esther, the Biblical opera by Howard Weisgall. Esther is based on the same Biblical story that is celebrated every year at Purim. The opera features NYCO house diva Lauren Flanigan in the title role, an exceptional vocal artist who is reason alone to get tickets. And the tickets are going fast--City Opera just added an extra performance in an effort to meet demand.

Opera Review: Straight Outta Mozart--Der Rosenkavalier

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:45:00 +0000

The Metropolitan Opera's current revival of its 1969 production of Der Rosenkavalier is a spectacular evening of Strauss, more than compensating for the bungled Tosca that hit the headlines at the start of the 2009 season.
Renee Fleming and Susan Graham are reunited as the Marschallin and Octavian, and the role of Sophie is taken by newcomer Maria Persson. They form a capable trio of leads in this gender-hopping opera.

Fleming is grace itself in this role, the latest in a long line of great Marschallins. Susan Graham is all youthful fire and ardor as Octavian, and quite convincing when she switches gender again as the maid Mariendel. All this cross-dressing is part of the appeal of this opera, a light-as-air Viennese masquerade that happens to go on for three and a half hours. Maria Persson's Sophie is a fully formed young lady. Her soprano blends well with the other two leads, and this is a much more capable Sophie than the usual ditzy portrayal of the character.

Rosenkavalier was initially titled Ochs von Lerchenau, and this memorable comic villain was made positively repellent by bass Kristinn Sigmundsson. When my date for the evening declared that she wanted to "go down and punch him out" at the end of the second act, that is precisely the sign of a great Ochs--thoroughly repellent yet comic at the same time. His singing and acting made one regret the conductor's decision to trim the opera, omitting most of the memorable yet thoroughly offensive list of the good Baron's conquests--a 20th century version of Mozart's "Catalogue Song" from Don Giovanni.

The characters of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's libretto are straight out of Mozart--this story could be a sequel of sorts to Le Nozze di Figaro. Dutch conductor Edo de Waart kept that in mind, his performance in the pit was always light, even in the opera's heavy moments--Strauss, after all wrote for an enormous orchestra. He conducted with pointed detail and good humor, lending extra lift to the opera's many waltzed and producing a transcendent shimmering texture in the famous final trio.

Alicia de Larrocha, 1923-2009

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 01:30:00 +0000

The great Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha died today. She was 86. Ms. de Larrocha was one of the premiere Mozart stylists of the 20th century. She also did much for the piano music of her native Spain, recording major works by Albéniz and Granados, cementing their place in the repertory. While famous for her Mozart and Haydn, she could tackle the big works of Liszt and Rachmaninoff with ease.

Ms. de Larrocha was born in 1923 and made her American recital debut in 1955. She died in a hospital in Barcelona. According to family friend Gregor Benko, her health had been declining since she suffered a broken hip two years ago.

On a personal note, I had the privilege of seeing Ms de Larrocha play in a concert performance at Carnegie Hall, about ten years ago. A diminutive woman, (she stood only 4'9") she was a formidable musical presence, whose liquid legato and precise phrasing infused joy into all of her performances. Over the course of her long career (she made her concert debut at 5 and her first Chopin recordings at the age of 9), she was a beacon of elegance and refinement in the often showy, male-dominated world of concert pianism.

Concert Review: Alan Gilbert conducts Mahler's Third

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:35:00 +0000

On Tuesday night, freshly minted New York Philharmonic music director Alan Gilbert led his forces in a sweeping performance of Gustav Mahler's mammoth Third Symphony. It was the orchestra's new leadership meeting its old, as Mahler ranks among the most famous music directors in the long history of the Philharmonic.

Despite its enormous size, the Third is an accessible Mahler symphony, setting aside the nightmares and religious ecstasy for a stately contemplation of nature, from the thunderous, primal birth of life to the heavenly realms and the mind of God. It is a dizzying ride, and Mr. Gilbert led his gigantic orchestra, double chorus, offstage musicians and mezzo-soprano, all without the benefit of a written score.

Judging from his podium performance on Tuesday night, Mr. Gilbert is an inspired technical conductor with an ear for the subtle textures that are often lost in the huge, blaring pages of the first movement. At thirty minutes, this is music for giants. It stops and starts, alternating enormous fanfares with huge slabs of chords and mysterious mutterings in the double basses and bass drums. Mahler's music evokes the mountains bursting forth from the earth, the awakening of the god Pan, and the swinging, brassy arrival of spring as the orchestra transforms not a gigantic marching band.

The remaining five movements of the symphony are on a smaller scale. Mr. Gilbert brought out in the delicate floral textures of the second movement, and the cavorting, parading beasts (complete with a trumpet solo played from the back of Avery Fisher Hall) in the third. Mezzo-soprano Petra Lang lent a mysterious gravity to the sung fourth movement, which fuses the primal rumblings of the first with a setting of Nietzsche. The fifth and sixth movements followed without pause, a choral setting of one of the Wunderhorn songs and a final cosmic movement dominated by the strings and brass..

The hiring of the 42-year old Mr. Gilbert represents a new start . He is a native New Yorker--the first to hold this post. He is the son of two Philharmonic musicians, and his mother, Yoko Takebe, still holds a chair in the violin section. (His father, also a Philharmonic violinist, is retired.) Finally, he is a gifted conductor with a bent for fearlessly programming new music. If Tuesday night's Mahler performance was any indication, the oldest orchestra in North America will be in good hands for many years to come.
Alan Gilbert on the podium. Photo by Chris Lee.

CD Review--Sack Time: Fischer-Dieskau in Rigoletto

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:19:00 +0000

This 1964 La Scala recording of Rigoletto features the unusual choice of acclaimed German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the title role and Czech conductor Rafael Kubelik leading the proceedings. (It also has weird cover art, but hey, it was the Sixties.)

Known for his skilled interpretation of songs by Schubert, Schumann and Wolf, Fischer-Dieskau is not the first name that comes to mind when it comes to this opera. The legendary baritone made some memorable recordings, but most of them are in the German repertory.

Fischer-Dieskau is a thinking man's jester. Like his lieder recordings, this is series of compelling miniatures that form a harrowing whole. While he is more restrained than some hunchbacks, he excels at portraying the suffering, pain and doubt that motivate the character.

Renata Scotto ("Little Renata" to us opera geeks, not to be confused with "Big" Renata Tebaldi) gives one of the finest performances of her recorded career as Gilda, the hunchback's daughter. Her "Caro Nome" is a virtual clinic on how this wonderful aria is to be sung, refreshingly free of annoying mannerisms. The spectacular coloratura work sounds giddy and refreshingly unforced--exactly what Verdi intended, the sound of an ecstatic young girl singing to herself.

Carlo Bergonzi applies his classic tenor to the Duke , making the most famous sexist pig in opera a thoroughly repugnant fellow who is a joy to listen to. Ivo Vinco is an able, dark-toned Sparafucile--his Act I duet with Rigoletto is a highlight of the set, paired with Fischer-Dieskau's acting instincts and led by Kubelik's instinctive musicianship.

This Rigoletto was deleted for a number of years, having been superseded in the catalogue by an excellent Viennese recording made by Carlo Maria Giulini, starring Piero Cappuccilli and Placido Domingo. Currently available as a bargain two-disc set, is being reissued (along with all the other DG Scala recordings) as part of a box set Great Operas from La Scala, coming later this month.

CD Review: The Abbado Ballo

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:03:00 +0000

The third in this survey of the La Scala Verdi recordings (and yes, it's wilfully out of order) is this excellent and largely forgotten Un Ballo in Maschera, conducted with flair by Claudio Abbado. Like the Aida (which was made around the same time with a similar cast) this Ballo comes at the very end of the analogue recording era, made in 1981 on the eve of the CD boom. And the warm, glowing sound of the violins and voices makes one regret all the problems that hit the recording industry because of that transition.

This is Domingo's second go-round on record as King Gustavo. The voice had not yet darkened and (with the exception of a slight tendency to always rrroll his R's) was still comparable to that other famous tenor. Domingo's portrayal combines brashness and dignity.The listener believes (especially in the Act II duet at the gallows) that Gustavo has really fallen in love with Amelia--so much so that he unwittingly sets up his own death at the hands of her husband.

Renato Bruson is a great choice as Anckarström, the cuckolded husband. Bruson sails through the difficult dramatic journey from trusted advisor and friend to cold-blooded assassin. His final duet with his wife with its great cry of "La vendetta" makes you believe that this is the historical Count, who used rusted bullets to ensure that the King died of blood poisoning. Ouch.

As Amelia, the wife torn between husband and king, Katia Ricciarelli is well suited as the dear caught in the opera's proverbial headlights. For once, Elena Obratzsova is ideally cast in a Verdi opera--here she can do little wrong as the intimidating witch Ulrica. The only small caveat is Edita Gruberova in the travesti role of the page, on record but a pretty good navigation of this role's treacherous coloratura.

This same cast appeared in a Covent Garden production by John Vernon that moved the action back to Sweden from its censor-approved 18th century Boston setting. Verdi, always a great one for history, fought with censors who wanted the action moved to Viking times, and to remove the conspirators, the adultery(!) and of course, the regicide. Eventually, the action was shipped up to colonial Boston, making King Gustav III into "Riccardo, Count of Warwick." The Vernon production proved that Ballo works better dramatically if a King, not a Count, is assassinated at the denouement.

CD Review: Aida in the Temple of Doom

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:25:00 +0000

This 1982 Aida is made with the usual cast of Deutsche Grammophon suspects. Once again, Claudio Abbado leads the proceedings. He conducts another fine performance, watching his dynamic markings and occasionally outwitting the recording engineer to produce grand musical theater.

Despite the photo of Katia Ricciarelli that appeared on the front cover of the original LP and CD box sets, it is Domingo who is the star of this show. Here, (in the second of three studio recordings he made as Radames) he sounds positively restrained--especially when compared to Corelli or del Monaco. And that's a good thing. Sensitive and thoughtful in the opera's opening act, he opens up the pipes later on to let floods of passion come roaring forth. In the studio, he sings with a level of care that doesn't always come across in the opera house.

Katia Ricciarelli's portrayal of the title role veers from mild to wild at the start of "Ritorna, vincitor." This is a fine, well-sung dramatic performance that ranges between extreme self-loathing and the pathos necessary for a truly sympathetic Aida. Oddly, Ricciarelli seems to achieve this latter quality through shorter phrases, not the traditional legato lines that one often hears in the opera house. She is, like many of her fellow Ethiopian slave-girls, best heard on record.

As Amneris, Elena Obraztsova remains a controversial choice. The Russian mezzo made a lot of DG recordings in the '80s and they all feature that bludgeoning, thrusting voice, an impressive instrument that could punch its way over the orchestra. Here, one wonders if she is about to punch out that two-timing Radames. Lucia Valentini-Terrani is perfectly cast here as the singing priestess in the temple of Fthà. She's the best female performance on this record.

This entire performance sounds like it is being played in the same echoing acoustic that is usually reserved for the Temple scene in Act I. The effect is claustrophobic, with solo violins, harps and even choristers echoing forth into the pyramidal void. This is an approach to recording Aida that was done first (and better) by John Culshaw on the first Karajan recording in 1959. But at least Culshaw knew the art of self-retraint. Dynamic ranges are extreme on this recording--the pianissimi are nearly inaudible and the big moments are right in your face--or eardrums--especially that final "Immenso Fthà!"

Putting Don Carlos in order

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:34:00 +0000

Released in 1990, the Claudio Abbado/Placido Domingo version of Don Carlos (DG) was the first commercial recording of this opera in its original French. Along with the five-act version of the opera (with the often-cut first act put back in its proper place, complete with "Je le vieux") the hefty four-disc set included the opera's famous "cut" scenes. However, in a classic example of record company weirdness, the cuts were relegated to the end of the fourth disc, as a series of extras. So with CDs or cassettes, it was almost impossible to listen to the full score of Don Carlos in order.

These trimmed scenes are pretty substantial--and include:

The opening scene of the opera, where a chorus of woodcutters in the forest of Fontainebleau bemoan their hunger, and then encounter Elisabeth de Valois. Verdi cut this on opening night for length, but it puts the events that follow (particuarly Elisabeth's decision to marry her fiancee's father, Philip II) in context, and changes the whole tone of the opera. The Met performs this scene, albeit in Italian.
The "Ballet of the Queen". A spectacular Paris Opera ballet, this has no effect except stopping the action in the middle of Act III for some nice music. Cut when the opera was revised for Italian performance.
The original "Insurrection" scene complete with thundering chorus of inquisitors. Trimmed down in performance, here it is similar to the "Radames Radames Radames" scene in Aida.

The Abbado recording is not the best Don Carlos on the market (Domingo's earlier recording with Giulini wins that particular bowl of nachos) but it is a solid enough performance, despite the oddity of an Italian cast and chorus singing in French. Domingo is in excellent form as the Infante, and Ruggerio Raimondi is an imposing King Philip. The ladies are less well served. The late Luciana Valantini-Terrani is a smallish, but competent Eboli. Katia Ricciarelli is past her prime here, a squally, and whiny Elisabeth--but she rebounds in the final act. The chorus and orchestra of La Scala is in top form, although the whole recording suffers from too much knob-twiddling by the Deutsche Grammophon tonmeister.

What's neat though, and what makes this recording worth revisiting is the IPod. If you upload the four CDs into your ITunes, you can then make a playlist and ut all the missing pieces in the correct order. Now, with the Woodcutter's Chorus at the opening, the ballet in its proper, interruptive place, and the Inquisitors back to work shouting at Carlos and Posa, this finally sounds like a proper Don Carlos. And best of all, the missing pieces fit perfectly, unveiling the breadth and scope of Verdi's grandest opera.

Die Frau Under Ground

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:04:00 +0000

OK, I admit it. I own multiple, working IPods. I keep one for rock and roll, one for classical and opera, and one that I consider "current listening"--a mishmash of just about everything in my collection that I need to have with me at any place and time.

Recently, I changed headphone brands, ditching my crappy buds in favor of 'phones made by SkullCandy. Their noise-blocking basic buds come with large silicone sound-mufflers that block outside noises better than any other brand of headphones that I have tried. And yes, I like them better than the ultra-expensive (and easily lost) Bose earbuds.

Anyway, with these advanced noise-blockers in my ears, I set aside the Metallica, Rush and Dream Theater (mmm...Dream Theater) for major operas by the two Richards (Strauss and Wagner) and Verdi. I started at the deep (loud) end with Die Frau Ohne Schatten. Opening the Songs list, I cued up the first track and turned Shuffle off. (the opening notes and the scene with the Nurse and the Messenger) I sank into an orchestral oblivion, a swirl of strings and the famous descending "Er wird zu stein!". Awesome. Then, without a moment's notice, my 'Pod quickly switched composers on me--it jumped to the next song alphabetically in the playlist.

The problem was easily solved. I took the three discs of Frau and loaded them onto the "On-The-Go" playlist. You scroll the wheel over the album you want, press the button, hold it down and it loads the whole thing. So now with the opera in the right order, I resumed listening.

It's quite something listening to this gigantic score in the hurly-burly of the subways. All the magnificent orchestral sounds and orchestral detail came roaring forth, sounding absolutely magnificent. In fact, the swelling rush of one hundred and twenty VIenna musicians was a little hard to get used to--the sheer volume and breadth of auditory information made me feel intoxicated--pure sensory overload, Strauss-style.

It's the End of the Ring as we Know It

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:57:00 +0000

(...and I feel fine)

A song parody by Paul J. Pelkonen
(based on "It's the End of the World As We Know It (and I feel fine)") by R.E.M., original lyrics by Michael Stipe, plot by Richard Wagner)

That's great it starts when the rope breaks, Norns quake and Erda sleeps on unafraid. Brunnhilde horse-dealin', Siegfried he's free-wheelin', going on to mighty deeds, think he's got a few leads, going down the river Rhine, with horse, (of course) sail against the current on a mighty boat, false note, going to the Gibichung, Gibichung hall! Brother, sister kissing in the castle with Hagen breathing down their neck. He's got a wicked plan with a notion in the potion that'll wipe his brain. Siegfried shows up takes a drink from the cup, slipped a mickey not lime rickey, uh oh blood flow brüderschaft to the raft Hagen serves his own needs find out what in Act Three, thinkin' bout the Nibelung, Nibelung ring. You sons of freedom sail on gladly switch bitch not a hitch in the night Gunther gives a fright!

It's the end of the world as we know it,
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of Act One as we know it, and I feel fine

Wake up Hagen sleepy head, Siggy's back, not dead, Hoi-ho! Cow horn Gunther boat re-turn, sacrifice to the gods, beer drinking, hell-raising, Got the bride eyes are wide don't get on her bad side, marriage problems escalate, world will annihilate, fingers on a spear point, he said, she said, plan a murder what's the motive Uh-oh this means no fear, cavalier, next day with the spear, stab him in the, stab him in the, stab him in the back! Murder by the river death scene takes forever is he dead yet?

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of Act Two as we know it and I feel fine.

Brunnhilde by the Rhine build a fire, pyre time.
Hagen commits regicide, Dead man's hand? Nein!, Time for immolation scene, Wotan auf wieder-zeen Burn the castle flood the river, Valhalla boom!
Immolate, annihilate, regenerate. Late? Late!

It's the end of the world as we know it.
(Time for Gö-tter-däm-merung)
It's the end of the world as we know it.
(Let's watch Gö-tter-däm-merung)
It's the end of the world as we know it
(Everybody Gö-tter-däm-merung)
and I feel fine...fine...

The Last Ring: Part III: Götterdämmerung

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:42:00 +0000

Richard Wagner: it's all his fault!

On Saturday night, Götterdämmerung proved to be more of a mixed bag. At first, Jon Frederic West sounded harsher and more metallic than in Siegfried. He coped well with the two most difficult moments in this impossible role--the "baritone" scene when he poses as Gunther and the murderous sixthteenth-note octave drop in Act II. However, he summoned his resources and sang beautifully in the death scene. A good Siegfried makes listeners regret his death. Otherwise, you root for Hagen to kill him.

Speaking of Hagen, John Tomlinson had an off night. Unsteady pitch marred Hagen's Watch, and his Act II "Hoi-ho!" was drowned out by the thundering Met orchestra. Iain Peterson was an undistinguished, shallow Gunther. The Met chorus was its usual spectacular self, making a truly intimidating noise and banging their spear-butts on the stage with gusto in Act II.

Happily, any vocal shortcomings were annihilated (couldn't resist) by the gorgeous performance of Linda Watson, who was a thoroughly satisfying Brünnhilde. This is a tough role as well, with the big duet scenes with Siegfried and Waltraute, the scene where she is attacked by "Gunther", and the second act where she becomes a fully human woman, the Wagner equivalent of a betrayed Verdi heroine. Her Immolation scene was riveting, teetering between sexual ecstasy and fanatic devotion to her deceased Siegfried. Top-notch.

James Levine conducted with his customary skill, although one sensed that he was racing through certain passages in order to get to the more lyric ones. The brass, however, suffered from "fish" notes in the horns and the occasional sour note on the trumpet. However, the band rebounded with an excellent Funeral Music and a thrilling Immolation scene.

The Last Ring, Part II: Siegfried

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:38:00 +0000

Jon Frederic West as Siegfried.
Photo © 2009 by Beatriz Schiller
Thursday night's performance of Siegfried (the last ever at the Met in this current production) continued what has been a strong Ring Cycle. This Siegfried was anchored by superb orchestral playing, the unforgettable Wanderer of James Morris, and the burly, pouting lad of the title role, sung ably by American heldentenor Jon Frederic West.

West sang well in this most punishing of roles. His voice has a firm metallic bite, and he excels in the soft passages where lyricism is required to probe the psyche of Wagner's titular knucklehead. He evolves from pouting brat to manly hero, throwing himself into the part with abandon. While West is not the next incarnation of Max Lorenz or Lauritz Melchior, he is an able Siegfried.

He was surrounded by an excellent cast, led by Morris' resonant Wanderer. Although the bass-baritone did not seem as comfortable vocally as he did in Walküre, sounding harsh and pinched in the riddle scene and in his confrontation with Erda, this was still a memorable performance, and possibly the great singer's last bow with spear and eye-patch at the Met.

Linda Watson reprised her lyrical Brünnhilde, with gorgeous tone and sweet notes in the very long duet. Robert Brubaker's Mime was an able foil for West, eliciting genuine laughs from the audience. And Richard Paul Fink's Alberich continued to be a highlight of this cycle.

The Last Ring, Part I: Das Rheingold and Die Walküre

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Thu, 07 May 2009 06:07:00 +0000

James Morris as Wotan.
The Metropolitan Opera opened its final performance of its famous Otto Schenk/Gunther Schneider-Siemsen Ring cycle on Monday night with a definitive Das Rheingold. Too often, the Met Rheingold has felt like a perfunctory exercise in stagecraft. But from the mysterious opening notes of the Prelude to the majestic final "Entrance into Valhalla", this was a Rheingold that stood on its own merits. James Levine conducted with drawn-out tempos that exposed fresh textures in the score.

The cast was excellent. Most notable was the marvelous, nasty Alberich of Richard Paul Fink, complete with an old-style bone-chilling laugh after he stole the gold. James Morris, in what may have been his last Wotan at the Met, gave a resonant, finely acted performance. Face it folks, this is role that this capable American bass-baritone could sing with patches over both eyes. Two once-and-future Wotans--Rene Pape (Fasolt) and John Tomlinson (Fafner)--made a magnificent pair of giants. Kim Begley was a high-energy Loge, bounding about the stage and singing with a pleasing, lyrical character tenor--somehting that does not always happen with this part.

James Levine set a very slow tempo that brought fresh orchestral textures to the ear. His orchestra played like gods, from the lush carpet of strings to the firm, ringing brass. Even the odd sound effects (the anvils, the thunder-strike) that can make or break a Rheingold worked on Monday night.

The major hitch on Tuesday came when the stage manager announced that Placido Domingo was not feeling well, and asked our indulgence. Halfway through the first act of Walküre, the singer stepped off stage right, had a coughing fit and was quickly replaced by tenor Gary Lehman, who was in costume and ready to take over. This was the only hitch in a thrilling performance that stood as companion piece to the Rheingold of the previous evening.

Linda Watson was a thrilling Brunnhilde, with soaring high "Hojotoho's" and an emotionally sensitive portrayal of Wotan's favorite daughter. James Morris was in top form, injecting real pathos as he sang Wotan's Farewell, more so because this Ring may be his own farewell to Valhalla. As Sieglinde, Adrienne Pieczonka was free of mannerism and affect. Despite the first-act hitch, she had good chemistry in the second with Gary Lehman. Yvonne Naef was a stern, compelling Fricka. Finally, Rene Pape was a marvelous, slimy Hunding--his two fine performances this week make one regret his two onstage deaths.

Classical Music 101: Building a Music Collection

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:35:00 +0000

Five Tips For Getting Your Hands on the Best Recordings

Price: How Much Should You Pay?
Classical music CDs have traditionally been divided into three price levels: "Full" price ($15-$18/disc), "Mid-price" ($10-$12/disc) and "Budget Price" ($8 and below.) Some stores can charge lower prices because they don't have to pay rent, or they are selling promotional items or other gently-used products. Used CD stores (not many of these left) will sometimes allow shoppers to bring a portable CD player to check the discs before buying, but this is rare. More recently, super-budget labels (like Brilliant Classics and Gala Records) have been releasing venerable performances at super-budget prices.

Format: Vinyl, CDs, or MP3s?
Most collectors swear by the original vinyl for the sheer quality of sound. However, vinyl records are bulky, hard to maintain, and require a good system with a turntable. They're also hard to find, as many vinyl recordings were deleted from shops as the industry switched over to cheaper, easier to manufacture CDs. Most classical music is available on CD, from Bach's solo violin pieces to the Wagner's grandiose Ring Cycle. CDs are a good place to start. Unfortunately the CD Database (CDDB) is notably inconsistent when it comes to generating names and track titles of classical and opera MP3s, making music in this format hard to find.

Performance: Choosing the Artist
There is a bewildering array of performances and repertory available. Start with the basics--the 1962 Beethoven symphonies conducted by Herbert von Karajan, or the works of Debussy or Stravinsky led by Ernst Ansermet. Sometimes older is better--most recordings made before the CD boom are of very high quality, and you can save some money, get better recordings, and develop a really fine collection. Research is recommended: the Penguin Guide, the Rough Guide to Classical Music or the Gramophone Good CD Guide are all good places to start. Read the internet, the classical music blogs, or best of all, talk to the senior clerk in a large record store.

Analog vs. Digital vs. Remastered
When an older, analog recording (that is one made with ordinary tape and originally issued on vinyl) is burned onto a CD, there is always some decay of the signal as it is re-written ("remastered") for the digital format. Some decay also happens when a recording is issued as an MP3. Ironically, some of the recent "budget" series released by the major labels (DG Originals, Decca Original Masters, EMI Great Recordings of the 20th Century, etc.) combine a classic recording with a low price and scintillating digital sound. Seek these recordings and performances out.

"Period Performance" vs. Modern Instruments
In the 1970s and '80s, the trend emerged where conductors and performers would play works on authentic or replica instruments from the 18th century. Wooden flutes, finger-hole clarinets, and "natural" horns all have very different sounds from their modern orchestral equivalents, and this is something to take into account when shoping for a recording. Also, some conductors like to use "metronome markings" found in the score, which often results in Mozart that you can pace off with an egg-timer. Many of these so-called "period" performances have great artistic value, but they may not be what you are listening for if you are just starting out.

CD Consultant: Five Fabulous Figaros

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:53:00 +0000

As I am slowly working my way through Brilliant Classics' Complete Mozart Edition, I thought this would be a good time to talk about one of the greatest comic operas ever written, Le Nozze di Figaro. With many recording on the market, it can be confusing for the consumer, especially since those great havens of wisdom--record stores--are disappearing from our urban landscape faster than Kathleen Battle from the Metropolitan Opera roster. Better yet, none of these are full price recordings, except for the Gardiner, which is due for a ~~cheap-o~~ DG Collector's Edition reissue one of these days.

Anyway, to launch a new semi-regular feature here at the blog, we are going to look at five recommended recordings of this great opera, in chronological order. Next week, we'll do another. And so on. Enjoy!

The way things used to be: the cover for the 1988 Östman Figaro

1955: Vienna Philharmonic, cond. Erich Leinsdorf.
Decca Legends. Studio recording.

The heavyweight champion. Finally given a proper CD mastering in 1999, this effervescent performance by the senior Kleiber with the Vienna Philharmonic is anchored by a phenomenal cast, which includes Hilde Gueden, Cesare Siepi and Fernando Corena. And did we mention the Goddess of Vienna, Lisa della Casa, radiant yet mournful as Mozart's Countess.

1968: Chor und Orchester der Deutsches Oper Berlin, cond. Karl Böhm.
DG Originals. Studio recording.

With Hermann Prey as Figaro and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Almaviva, this German-flavored recording has a pair of very strong leads. Rich comic timing, crisp, nimble performances and a great Mozartean at the helm. A loveable Figaro and the first one I reach for. And with a cast that includes Gundula Janowitz, Edith Mathis and Tatiana Troyanos, can you blame me?

1988: Drottingholm Court Orchestra and Chorus, cond. Arnold Östman.
Decca Classics. Live recording

Originally pressed on Decca's now-defunct period label L'oiseau-lyre this was the first Figaro on period instruments. Östman is a sure hand at the podium, leading his radically reduced orchestra and a fresh cast (featuring future superstar Barbara Bonney) through a complete performance of this opera. Includes an appendix with the often cut arias for Basilio and Marcellina in the final act. A marathon Figaro but a satisfying experience. Currently available (with three of Östman's other Mozart recordings) as a super-bargan box set from Decca.

1994: English Baroque Soloists, cond. John Eliot Gardiner.
DG Archiv. Live recording.

Gardiner's fussy, quicksilver conducting dominates this live recording made at the Theatre du Chatelet and filmed for release on VHS and DVD. In fact, this was one of the first opera DVDs released by DG back in 2000. The recorded debut of Bryn Terfel as Figaro, alongside a strong cast of future stars that includes Rodney Gilfrey and Alison Hagley. Pamela Helen Stephen is an excellent Cherubino. Hillevi Martinpelto gives an emotional, carefully weighted portrait of the Countess, the perfect, irresistible compliment to the macho bluster of the two male leads.

1998: La Petit Bande, cond. Sigiswald Kukijen.
Currently available in the Complete Mozart Edition, Brilliant Classics

This is a finely-balanced recording that is currently available as part of the mammoth Complete Mozart Edition from Brilliant Classics. Recorded in Belgium, it features period playing of exceptional clarity and beauty from Le Petit Bande, and a cast of mostly unknown singers that excel in the opera's complicated ensembles. Well-recorded and well performed, with excellent choral singing. When the audience applauds at the end of Act I, it's a pleasant shock as there is little stage noise.

Opera Review: The Redemption of Il Trovatore

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:28:00 +0000

The new David McVicar staging of Il Trovatore is the perfect fuel for Verdi's fiery drama. It may not meet the Enrico Caruso standard of "the four greatest singers in the world," but last night, Marcelo Àlvarez, Sondra Radvanovsky, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Dolora Zajick came pretty close.

Detail from Pilgrimage to St. Isidro's hermitage by Francisco Goya, used as the show-curtain in the current Met production of Il Trovatore.

The dramatic excesses of Trovatore make perfect sense in McVicar's wasteland staging. Past Met productions of this opera (most recently, the unmitigated, never-revived Graham Vick disaster of the 2000 season) chose to mock the excesses of Salvatore Cammarano's superb libretto. But this production (inspired by the late "black" paintings of Goya) embraces them, creating a war-torn wasteland dominated by a giant depiction of Christ tortured on the cross.

The bleak, rotating set (by Charles Edwards) consists of crumbling walls and damaged iron gratings, not to mention a huge witch-burning stake that echoes the upstage crucifix and reminds the audience of the opera's central tragedy of mistaken identity. In this hell-world, the forces of destiny are the only things that seem to make any sense. Everyone is doomed, and no one here gets out alive.

Libretto, sets, and staging are only a framework to hang great vocal talent upon. This production has four aces up its sleeve--all spades. Marcelo Àlvarez has evolved into a full, rich spinto tenor, fulfilling his potential with a Manrico that is equal parts bel canto singing and vocal heft. His "Di quella pira" ended on a high B, not a high C, and he did run out of breath holding it. But, he recovered nicely and hit the pitch squarely the second time. Better yet was his seductive offstage opening aria and the emotional heights of the Miserere scene.

Sondra Radvanovsky rocked the house as Leonora, one of two difficult Verdi heroines of that name. Like the Forza Leonora, Radvanovsky's character ricochets through the Spanish landscape, from lady-in-waiting to aspiring nun, blushing bride and finally, resigned suicide. Her opening "Tacea la notte" (ably aided by the restrained conducting of Gianandrea Noseda) was a gorgeous flood of sweet, creamy tone and delicate soprano filigree. She was facile and nimble in the cabalettas--those old-fashioned high-speed arias that have flummoxed many a would-be Leonora. And her final "D'amor sull'ali rosee" drew in and involved the audience, making it seem like drinking poison (rather than marrying the baritone) was, at that point, a girl's only reasonable option.

On the other hand, Dmitri Hvorostovsky was visually and vocally gorgeous as Count di Luna, exuding the right blend of sexuality and madness that makes one question Leonora's decision to off herself rather than marry him. He cut an imposing physical and vocal figure, and floated an amazing pianissimo phrase in the middle of "Il balen del suo sorriso", a moment where lesser singers elect to blast through the notes and hope for the best. Sublime.

Despite a run of bad stagings of Trovatore (we're not even going to mention the 1980s "giant staircase" production by Ezio Frigiero), the Met has always had a great Azucena: Dolora Zajick. From "Stride la vampa" to her final confrontation with di Luna, this is one of the great portrayals in opera, filled with hysteria, horror, rage and tender moments with her "son." Zajick hit some astonishing low notes last night, and produced a solid, dramatic performance that never once veered into cliché. Neither did this superb Trovatore.

CD Review: The Return of the Big Wagner Box

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 02:22:00 +0000

Back in the '90s (I seem to be starting a lot of articles with that sentence these days) the then-record-company Philips released a gigantic 18" long 32-CD box set called the "Richard Wagner Edition", consisting of live recordings of all ten of the major Wagner operas. (Höllander, Tannhaüser, Lohengrin, Tristan, Meistersinger, the whole Ring and Parsifal.

It was an expensive set, featuring only recordings made at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. Unfortunately some of these recordings, made in conjunction with video productions of Wagner's operas, were of mixed and middling quality. Most notably, the Pierre Boulez-led Ring from the late '70s featured grade-A conducting and a grade-C cast. At the same time, older, "historical" recordings of better quality were issued at premium prices, some of them only available as imports.

This new box set, clunkily titled Wagner: The Great Operas of the Bayreuth Festival (weighing in at 33 discs!) is a welcome arrival. Reasonably priced (given its size), this yellow cardboard box eliminate librettos, essays, booklets, jewel boxes and slipcases in favor of simple white envelopes for the discs. Tannhaüser, Tristan, Meistersinger. and Parsifal are the same as the earlier set. Let's look at those first.

The 1962 Sawallisch recording of Tannhaüser features great performances from Wolfgang Windgassen and Grace Bumbry, the mezzo who broke the color barrier at Bayreuth. It is an odd mix of the "Dresden" and "Paris" editions of the score. The 1966 Karl Böhm Tristan pits Windgassen's fiery tenor against the icy power of Birgit Nilsson's soprano. She is not to be messed with. He ain't bad either. Each act fits on a single disc, and was recorded on a separate day. This enabled Windgassen and Nilsson to sing at full blast.

The 1974 Meistersinger under Silvio Varviso is a muddle, with a mediocre Walther (Jean Cox) and Eva (Hannelore Bode), and lots of clattery stage noises. However, it boasts a great Hans Sachs from underrated hausbariton Karl Ridderbusch and fine comic timing from the ensemble cast. The final recording to reappear from the old set is the 1985 Parsifal, led at a snail's pace by James Levine is also a mixed bag, capturing an early performance from Waltraud Meier as Kundry (which is good) and a late one from Peter Hoffmann (which is not.). Able support is provided by Hans Sotin (Gurnemanz) and Simon Estes (Amfortas) and the choral singing is excellent. However, the best Bayreuth Parsifal remains the 1962 live recording under Hans Knappertsbutsch.

Now for the good stuff. This set flanks the 1962 Sawallisch Tannhaüser nicely by including his generally excellent recordings of Der Fliegende Höllander (1961) and Lohengrin (1962). All three feature Swedish soprano Anja Silja, who was still a teenager when she sang the leading roles of Senta, Elisabeth and Elsa at the Festspielhaus. (It didn't hurt matters either that she was the girlfriend of Festival co-director Wieland Wagner, the composer's grandson.) Silja is incandescent in the Lohengrin, just one jewel in an amazing cast that features Franz Crass, Ramon Vinay, supersoprano Astrid Varnay (the scariest Ortrud ever!) and Jess Thomas as Lohengrin. Best of all, this is one of those "just stand there" Wieland Wagner productions, so there is almost no stage noise, just great singing.

Finally, the new Wagner box includes the 1967 Karl Böhm Ring. Once again, the set features Nilsson and Windgassen as Brunnhilde and Siegfried. And yes, their chemistry is real, and even better here than on the studio-recorded Solti Ring with the Vienna Philharmonic. But the real treasure of this excellent, energetic Ring is the performance of Leonie Rysanek as Sieglinde in Die Walküre. This Walküre sets the gold standard for this opera, complete with the famous, theatrically orgasmic scream (a Wieland addition) at the end of the first act.

The Siegfried is one of the best readings of Wagner's fairy tale. Windgassen's unflagging energy a wonder to behold. Böhm, a Strauss protege and a man of the theater, shows his bespectacled brilliance on the podium, bringing the final bars of Götterdämmerung home in a blaze of orchestral color. (Note to Wagner nuts: Yes, this is the same controversial production of the Ring in which Wieland cut Gutrune's short scene out of Act III of Götterdâmmerung. However the performance on these discs includes the missing scene, restored to its proper place.)

Met Swings Economic Ax

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:08:00 +0000

Cuts four productions, revives Elektra

Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb announced today that the company will be forced to make cuts in order to survive the current economic crisis. The crisis is caused by the disappearance of $100 million of the Met's endowment fund, lost in the current financial mess on Wall Street.

Ticket prices at the big house will remain stable, although an 8% increase was considered. Additionally, Met senior staff will receive a 10% pay cut and singers will be asked to negotiate lower fees. Also, it is possible, according to an anonymous source cited by Daniel J. Wakin in today's New York Times, that the company may ask its three big unions for 10% "giveback" cuts.

However, according to Gelb, the company instead chose to cut four high-end productions for the 2009-2010 season and replace them with less expensive ones. The four operas being cancelled are:

The company's elaborate, gorgeous Die Frau Ohne Schatten by Richard Strauss. It will be replaced by the equally gorgeous (but shorter) Ariadne auf Naxos in the Elijah Moshinksy staging. Yes, they are taking away one of my favorite Met productions but at least they are replacing it with another one that I really like!
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District--another elaborate modern opera, this is a powerful drama by Shostakovich and not exactly a box-office champ. Will be replaced by a much-needed revival of Elektra.
A long-awaited reviva of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles is the last opera scrapped. It will be replaced by yet another revival of the Zefirelli staging of La Traviata.
Benvenuto Cellini by Berlioz. This opera is something of a James Levine favorite. No word yet on a replacement, but I would love to see a concert performance of Beatrice et Benedict!

The last time the Met cancelled a production it was for the singer Marcelo Alvarez. He was supposed to sing the title role in Les Contes d'Hoffmann but the production was yanked in favor of the company's not-so-classic Carmen.

In more positive news, the City Opera, still operating without a home theater and struggling to survive the chaos caused by the sudden departure of Belgian theater director Gerad Mortier, hired a new general manager today. His name is George Steel (not to be confused with retired professional wrestler George "The Animal" Steele) and he used to be the director of the Dallas Opera. Steel takes over a company in chaos and crisis, but he is smart and experienced with a good reputation.

He plans to present a somewhat truncated schedule and will guide the City Opera as it returns to its newly renovated Lincoln Center digs.

DVD Review: Schwann vs. Schwann: Two Bayreuth Lohengrins

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:03:00 +0000

Back in the misty era known as the 1990s, a humble young journalism student would go to the Tower Records in Boston and rent VHS opera performances, mostly released on the Philips label. Among those videos: two vastly different stagings of the Wagner opera Lohengrin from the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, filmed eight years apart. DG has acquired the rights to the Philips catalogue, and has re-released both performances on DVD.

"Mein Lieber Schwann" from Act III of the Uecker production, with Peter Hoffman as Lohengrin

Gunther Uecker, the artist best known for his wood-and-nails sculptures, collaborated with iconoclastic director Gotz Friedrich to create a Lohengrin unlike any seen before. The opera is set in a futuristic torture chamber, its floor covered with a giant lead sheet, that looks like a leftover set from Star Wars. This is a high-tech, sci-fi world, where King Henry's Herald (Bernd Weikl) wields a ten-foot-long TV antenna and the King himself looks ready to take on Flash Gordon. When Lohegrin (Peter Hofmann) makes his grand entrance he steps out of a revolving, sparkling disc of light--in reality a spinning solid wooden wheel covered by Uecker's trademark nailheads.

Unfortunately the cast does not live up to the production. Peter Hoffmann was the Johnny Bravo of would-be heldentenors. Tall. Blond. Studly. Looked great with his shirt off in the 1976 Die Walküre. But here, he was already on the down-slope, his voice pinched and reedy in the upper register needed for this role. But boy, he sure looks good in that armor!

Karan Armstrong and a young Elizabeth Connell are an effective, sisterly Elsa and Ortrud, two sides of the same coin. Leif Roar lives up to his name as Telramund. The choral work, under the direction of Wolfgang Pitz, is superb, as one would expect at Bayreuth.

Lohengrin's Act I entrance from the Herzog production.

Werner Herzog's production replaced the Friedrich in 1987. Herzog moves the opera to the winter, setting the action in a frozen wasteland more suited to The Golden Compass than the fields and castles of Brabant. This Lohengrin has a tribal, neo-pagan feel to it, with Telramund (Ekkehard Wlaschiha) decked out in furs and Ortrud (Gabriele Schnaut) as a primal priestess. It is also notable for its early use of onstage lasers and smoke, being one of the first opera productions at Bayreuth to add rock concert-style technology to its staging of the opera.

The singers are pretty solid across the board. Paul Frey is almost as good-looking as Peter Hoffmann, a dark, handsome Swan Knight with a better tenor. Cheryl Studer hits her brief peak as Elsa. Manfred Schenk, an underrated bass, is a phenomenal King Henry. As the Telramunds, Wlaschiha and Schnaut are both snarling and over the top. Schnaut actually does her Act II invocation to the pagan gods while standing shin-deep in an onstage water-tank. All the vocal principals are a considerable upgrade over the earlier production.

The earlier performance (Friedrich) is better, with more fire coming out of the pit under Woldemar Nelsson. In the Herzog, Peter Schneider conducts. He was brought in to replace another conductor at the last minute, and does not sound as confident or driven. Schneider maintains a solid, foursquare beat, he knows this opera back-to-front, but he does not compete with the three big K's (Kempe, Kubelik, and Keilberth.)

A final note: both of these productions were once available on CD during the classical boom of the '90s, the Friedrich/Hoffman/Armstrong from CBS Masterworks, the '90 from Philips. It should say something about their general quality that while the DVDs have been re-issued, the audio recordings remain deleted.

All video content © Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Music Group. Reposted from YouTube. Used for promotional purpose only.

The YouTube Symphony Orchestra

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:49:00 +0000

Had to repost this just because it's really interesting.

The YouTube Symphony Orchestra
Interested in joining the first-ever collaborative online orchestra? Professionals and amateur musicians of all ages, locations and instruments are welcome to audition for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra by submitting a video performance of a new piece written for the occasion by the renowned Chinese composer Tan Dun (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). We have tools to help you learn the music, rehearse with the conductor, and upload your part for the collaborative video.

And how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice and upload. Send us your talent video performance from a list of recommended pieces. Finalists will be chosen by a judging panel and YouTube users to travel to New York in April 2009, to participate in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra summit, and play at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas.

The deadline for all video submissions is January 28, 2009.

CD Review: The Goodall Mastersingers

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:27:00 +0000

"Open The Shrine! "

Yes, we're back after a holiday absence. Welcome to the 2009 edition of the Superconductor blog-your source for the best classical music coverage that I can find time to write about.

I know things have been dead on this page for a little while--I think every serious writer goes through "down" periods of lesser creativity where you are grinding out words but, in the words of Roger Waters, "running over the same old ground." Rather than do that (and bore the audience), I sometimes take a break from blogging. Break's over. Back to work!

I'd like to open up this year's 'Conductor (yes, it's 2009, we are closing out our second year!) by writing about one of my favorite Wagner recordings. Yeah. There's a shock. I write a lot about Wagner because I happen to KNOW a lot about it--recordings, trivia, performances and those ten (yes, it's really thirteen but the canon is ten operas) magnificent mammoth musical edifices, which never cease to amaze, fascinate and sometimes stupefy audiences into submission. There's lots of interesting stuff to write about, so let's get to it shall we?

What did you get for Christmas? (Or any of the other December holidays?) I got a bunch of new Wagner CDs and DVDs! First up, the first-ever Chandos issue of The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, a live radio recording made in 1968 at the Sadler Wells company, and, like everything else put out by that company, sung in English.

American audiences may not know this, but before the implementation of title screens and running digital translations in the opera house, many European houses would produce and perform operas in their native languages. Writers would make a "singing translation", one that had the same meter and rhythm as the original words of the libretto. Wagner, with his distinctive pseudo-high-German stabreim was particularly susceptible to this practice--I remember once seeing an LP set in a Boston record shp with the unlikely title of I Maestro Cantori di Nurimbergo.. This practice still goes on--a look at the Deutsche Oper Berlin schedule for next June reveals a planned performance of Mozart's Die Hochzeit des Figaro.

Like most Goodall recordings (the British conductor also preserved his English-language Ring and a German-language Parsifal recorded in Wales, the tempos are incredibly slow, even glacial. It's ponderous, carefully thought out music making that lumbers along and demands the utmost from players forced to slow and stretch notes to fit the conductor's design. However, slow conducting can often reveal some interesting sub-textures of the musical fabric of a piece, underthemes and buried motifs that may only be apparent through perusal of a full score.

The cast includes an excellent Alberto Remedios (who would go on to record both Siegmund and Siegfried in the Goodall Ring) and Norman Bailey, whose superb Hans Sachs is better here than on the somewhat lead-footed Solti recording from 197_. Yes, it's for the completist, and yes the translation of the libretto is often awkward, but this is a fascinating Meister...excuse me, Mastersingers, making a welcome arrival in the catalogue after languishing in a British vault for forty years.

Opera Review: Ozawa flips Queen of Spades at the Met

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:05:00 +0000

It's been a little while since I've posted here. I havent been idle--have several compelling operas and concerts to write about. Let's start the backlog, shall we? After all, better late than Neva....

The Metropolitan Opera's much-anticipated revival of The Queen of Spades bowed on November 21. Elijah Moshinsky's lush, surreal production returned to the grand stage intact, complete with haunting color schemes and the thoroughly impressive entrance of Catherine the Great, Empress of all the Russias.

Equally impressive was the performance of Ben Heppner in the role of Ghermann, the opera's protagonist. Heppner was in excellent voice, but lacked intensity as the hard-luck gambler. He took over the opera in its final scene, where he commits suicide at the gaming table.

Maria Guleghina gave a tremendous performance as Lisa, the opera's equally doomed female protagonist. She is a bit robust to be your classic wilting Tchaikovsky heroine but sang with beauty and pathos, both in her opening song and in her final death scene where she throws herself into the Neva, an act which mirrored the composer's own suicide attempt in 1877.

The great Felicity Palmer was a regal Countess, impressive in death and life. The supporting cast included the welcome presence of "Mr. Met", Paul Plishka, who has sang at the big house for over thirty years.

The revival was somewhat let down by the choice of Seiji Ozawa on the podium. Ozawa, who had not conducted at the Met for 15 years, gave a limpid, textured reading of the score His performance undermined the passions at work in this opera, emphasizing Tchaikovsky's genteel, Mozartean textures over the more stormy passages. These turbulent, emotional pages were given without fire or much energy, and while beautifully played, they failed to compel as drama.

The Die Hard Story: A Reflection

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:24:00 +0000

(It's a quiet week on the concert-going so I thought I'd share some thoughts on why we're all here--why a certain young man named Paul J. Pelkonen is nutty about classical music.)

or How I got (back) into Classical Music:

It's true that I came to opera first--my mother and father were great ones for making sure I was "cultured", taking me to Broadway shows as early as 6 or 7 years old. When I was about 8 (?) years old, Mom and Dad brought me to a performing arts series at Brooklyn College--attending a dance recital, some theater piece, and an opera. I don't really remember. But of all those shows, opera was the one that stuck.

When I was 9, (this was in 1982), Mom and Dad bought a subscription for us at the New York City Opera. My first was Turandot, followed in that strike-shortened season by La Boheme, Candide and Carmen. We went to the opera regularly after that, even continuing when my Dad passed away in 1985.

But by the time I turned 16 or so, I was into a different kind of bombast--I had gotten into progressive rock, heavy metal, and the music that is today called "classic" rock. My first rock concert was that summer of '88: Aerosmith, Deep Purple, and Guns N' Roses at Giants Stadium (a show immortalized in the G'N'R' video for the song "Paradise City." The next day, my friend Ethan and I decided to go to the movies. Our choice: Die Hard.

Now, you might recall that the first Die Hard movie has a score pervaded by the "Ode to Joy" theme from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. It shows up first at the cocktail party, played in a string quartet arrangement. Later, Hans Gruber (the villain, played by Alan Rickman) hums or scat-sings it to himself in the elevator. At the end of the film's second act, when the bad guys crack open the safe, a sprightly version of the "Turkish March" comes bursting out of the orchestra, celebrating the thieves' glee at their success. And after the final, apocalyptic conclusion to the movie, the Ninth roars over the final credit scroll in all its glory--albeit in a slightly compressed, edited version.

I don't know which chorus or orchestra was used in the film--the original arrangements were by the late Michael Kamen but I don't know if he recorded another Ninth (unlikely) or simply edited down an existing recording for the movie. Either way, I stood there, in the theater, for the entire closing credits. The next day, I went to the Record Explosion on Broadway and Fulton, and for $3.99, bought a cassette of the 9th, featuring the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, conducted by Eugene Ormandy. I was hooked. I still am.

Opera Review: A Hi-tech Damnation

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:50:00 +0000

For those of you who've been here from the beginning, this is the second review of Berlioz' The Damnation of Faust to post on this blog. Feels sort of like an anniversary, to be writing again about the first piece of music ever reviewed here on Superconductor back in early 2007.

The Metropolitan Opera's new computer-driven mounting of Damnation of Faust is a showcase for the staging techniques of Robert LePage, the Quebecois director best known for his work with Peter Gabriel and Cirque de Soleil. It is the Met's first attempt to stage this Berlioz work since 1906.

Bass John Relyea on his hoss.

The action of this légende dramatique" (the composer preferred this term to opera) is played out on a four-level set. At first, this appears to be a seemingly unremarkable series of catwalks and screens,. The digital displays are the palette upon which LePage, (using advanced technology) attempts to recreate Berlioz's sound-world through visual means.

Soldiers march (backwards!) across the catwalks in front of digital backgrounds. Rappelling demons descend across the facades of houses. Dancers move in front of billowing curtains programmed to react to their movements. And most remarkably, the lake scene features a huge, haunting image of mezzo-soprano Susan Graham's head, floating in the water--an idea which recalls the "Because" sequence in the recent Julie Taymor-directed Beatles movie Across The Universe.

The overall result is intriguing and can best be described as a partial success. That's not Lepage's fault. Simply put, the sound-world of the Damnation is so rich, detailed and varied that no production, not even a mostly digital one, could possibly hope to compete with the creative impetus behind this work. That said, the vocal performances in this production are of the highest caliber.

As Marguerite, Susan Graham is in exceptional form. She currently owns this part with her rich mezzo and emotive, intuitive acting. Her two big arias--the Song of the King of Thule and the Spinning Song, would have not just made Berlioz proud, but every other composer or writer who has taken a crack at the Faust legend. Amazing. Marcello Giordani has a fine powerful voice--not quite what it once was. He is a bit too Italianate in vocal styling for Berlioz, but that is forgivable, since he hits all the notes and can act. He is starting on the down-slope of his career but he is still a strong leading man--surprisingly effective in the early sections where Faust is a beaten old man.

The energy of Faust always picks up when the Devil makes his appearance. In a goofy red suit and cockade cap, Canadian baritone John Relyea has his coming-out party as Mephistopheles. (Silly though the outfit is, it's no match for the William Blake-inspired "muscle dragon" that Rene Pape was forced to wear in the new Gounod Faust in 2005!) His performance is a resonant one, infused with the intelligence and comic timing one expects from this fine singer.

The Met Orchestra and Chorus maintain their deservedly high reputations here, tearing into the work's famous instrumental passages and final "Pandemonium" chorus with gusto. Close your eyes, sit back, and let the music work its devilish magic.

Concert Review: Eschenbach Conducts Beethoven and Bruckner

ppelkonen@gmail.com (Paul Pelkonen) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:48:00 +0000

Last Friday's matinee performance of the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Christoph Eschenbach, featured pianist Lang Lang playing the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 and the Ninth Symphony by Anton Bruckner.

Christoph Eschenbach does a neat baton trick.

Lang Lang is a fast-rising star of the piano and this performance shows why. His entry was a torrent of liquid notes, played with poise and seemingly very little effort. If it is accepted that best pianists make the most technical passages look effortless, and Lang Lang's traversal of this Beethoven concerto was an absolute cakewalk.

However, he was hampered by Eschenbach's conducting, which missed the pace and rhythmic snap necessary to make this Beethoven work not just listenable, but spectacularly entertaining. This performance was pretty and note-perfect. All the meters were correct and the rhythms were strict. But it was drained of blood and passion when Mr. Lang was not playing, and was ultimately let down by the conductor.

Happily, these problems did not occur during the second piece on the program Bruckner's mighty, unfinished Ninth Symphony. This work exists as a torso, and is generally performed without its unfinished last movement, which Bruckner did not live to complete. Like most of the composer's output, the score is massive, static blocks of brass and strings, powerful fanfares, thunderous crescendoes, weighty pauses and mighty chorales.

The Philharmonic is an orchestra that thrives on its brass section, and the horns were well equipped to play Bruckner. The mighty first statement shook the hall, and the orchestra was off, blasting through the score. The first movement rolled, swelled and roared. The second, built like most Bruckner scherzos, around a distinctive five-note "Bruckner rhythm" and the Landler, a traditional Austrian peasant folk dance.

Even Eschenbach's podium gyrations could not keep up with the orchestra's inspired playing in the final adagio, a powerful movement replete with quotations from Wagner (including a theme from Walküre and the bell-motif from Parsifal.. Since Bruckner sketched the finale but did not live to complete the last movement, this Adagio made a powerful close to the concert.